Blue Mountain plans to leave Berks Football League after '13 season

Blue Mountain's association with the Berks Football League apparently will end in two years after the school board voted Thursday to accept an invitation to join the Anthracite Football League.

The Eagles joined the Inter-County League in 2004, along with Pottsville and Gov. Mifflin, and immediately helped elevate the league's caliber of play.

That will come to an end following the 2013 season, pending final approval by the AFL.

Blue Mountain principal Jim Ketner said the move is being made more for economic and community considerations than for football reasons.

"We think it's a great move for our kids and our football program, and overall for our football community," Ketner said. "The Berks League is a very good league, with very good coaches and players, but because of the distance and the tradition, it was just different.

"This community was used to having packed stands every weekend where we had local rivalries. It was exciting."

Blue Mountain and Pottsville officials have complained privately in the past that their attendance was hurt by the move to the I-C because Berks football fans don't travel well.

Blue Mountain officials were also upset that the BFL would not accommodate its request to play rival Schuylkill Haven in Week 10, thereby costing it one of its largest gates.

Blue Mountain athletic director Harry Myers, who said his athletic budget was cut by 40 percent this year, said attendance was a key component in the decision to join the AFL.

Pottsville coach Kevin Keating said he was "shocked" to learn of the move late Thursday.

"That is going to surprise a lot of people," said Keating. "I'm flabbergasted."

Keating said he didn't believe that Pottsville had been invited to join the AFL, and that he would be against such a move.

He called his school's association with the Berks Football League "fantastic" for his program.

Pottsville is in Section 1 of the BFL with the larger schools; Blue Mountain is in Section 2 with the smaller schools.

Bill Hess, football chairman for the BFL, said he was shocked as well to learn news of the impending move late Thursday when contacted by the Reading Eagle.

"I didn't see it coming," he said.

The addition of Lehighton, a Triple-A school, to the AFL earlier this month prompted Blue Mountain's move. The AFL currently consists of nine schools but most are Class AA and Class A.

Blue Mountain coach Mike Brennan said he thought an impending change in the District 11 power rating system could help his team qualify for the four-team Class AAA playoffs, despite playing mostly smaller schools.

The addition of Lehighton and Blue Mountain will give the AFL 11 teams.

Brennan said that given the current economic climate at Blue Mountain he understood the school board's decision.

"I can see where they're coming from," he said. "I see we're going back to our roots a little bit. Our kids are more familiar with a lot of kids in that league. They grew up playing against these kids. I think it makes sense in a lot of ways."